Kung Fu Humans Chapter Seven
KUNG FU HUMANS CHAPTER SEVEN We stared into the emotionless face of Haki Malian. Her eyes were like sharp purple crystals, glaring at us. I felt a chill go up my spine when I looked into her eyes, so I looked at her attire instead. Funny. I wasn't expecting a detective to dress like Sherlock Holmes. Especially a Chinese one. Shifu sat down in the other chair and we came closer. "I'm afraid I would like to speak to your master alone," Haki said to us. "I apologize, but whatever he needs to say to me, I think should be said in private." "Miss Malian, I agree that it is best if we speak in private," Shifu said, glaring at us. We nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind us. "Okay, Miss Holmes," I said when I shut the door. "Miss who?" Crane asked me. "Sherlock Holmes," Nicole explained. "He was a famous detective in the human world a long time ago. He dressed exactly like that." "And what was that… that thing she had in her mouth?" Po asked. "It's called a cigarette," Trinity explained. "You light it with fire and place it in your mouth, and then smoke comes out of your mouth. It's called 'smoking'. A lot of people do it in the human world, even though everyone knows that smoking can cause diseases, and even death." "Why do they do it, then, if it can cause death?" Viper asked. "Because it's addictive," I said in an angry tone. "Once you start, you can't stop. It's mostly for adults, but teenagers have started doing it. We even know a couple people from middle school who smoke and do drugs." "Did you just say the word 'drugs'?" Monkey asked, his face in shock. "Wh…" "Most of the teenage population nowadays does drugs," Nicole said. "It disgusts me. They do it because they're addicted to it, and they want to look 'mature'." "That is stupid," Mantis said. "You can say that again," I agreed. It was then that the masters probably realized how horrible the human world was becoming. Seriously, eighty percent of teenagers only care about making out, doing drugs, and cursing. They just want to look mature. I say that they're acting immensely immature. We heard light footsteps. The lemur, Chuan, came up the stairs and faced us. I then realized how beautiful she was. She was wearing a simple, pink dress with a pink lily tucked behind her ear. Her chest and shoulders were brown, her hands, feet, and most of her face was black, and every other part of her body was white. Her eyes were a bright yellow and seemed to glow. "Um, excuse me, masters," Chuan said nervously, playing with her long tail. "But I was wondering if you'd like to come downstairs and have some lunch." "Um… sure," Tigress answered. Chuan smiled and clapped her hands lightly in delight. "Follow me," she told us. We followed her down a few flights of stairs. Along the way, we passed many artifacts, decorations, and other valuable things. I couldn't help but stare. They looked gorgeous, especially one that caught my eye. "Hey, Chuan, do you know what that is?" I asked, pointing to a gold statue against the wall. It was a statue of a human woman. She had long, wavy hair, and she was wearing a wraparound dress with a light colored cloth used as a covering for her arms. Her feet were bare, her eyes were big and stood out, and hanging from her small ears were earrings, the kind that were big and shaped like hoops. Overall, she looked gorgeous. "Oh, the one of the woman?" Chuan asked me. I nodded. "That's a statue of the Japanese Goddess of love, Ai. She is known for saving the human and animal worlds numerous times, and for saving the lives of different individuals. She created three golden necklaces, each with a different kind of jewel in the middle. The necklaces have the power to get the person wearing them to go from the animal world to the human world and back as many times as they want. It is also said that every five hundred years, Ai comes down to Earth in the form of an egg, and hatches three months after she comes down, as a three year old human girl." Chuan smiled. We were all impressed with her amount of knowledge. "Where did you learn all that?" Nicole asked. "When I was a child, I was very interested in mythology," she smiled. "Ai was my favorite goddess." I gasped. "Chuan, could these possibly be the necklaces that Ai created?" I asked, showing her my necklace. Nicole and Trinity showed her their necklaces, too. Chuan examined them and nearly fainted. "How- how did you get these!?" she exclaimed. "They fell out of the case for my nook," I explained. She looked confused. "A nook? What's that?" "It's a device where you can download stories, and read them all on one tablet," I explained. "Trinity has one, too." She nodded, still a bit confused. "And how did you get here?" she asked. "Did you press down on the jewels and think about this place? Because that's how Ai traveled from world to world in the old legends." "No," Trinity said. "It was a full moon that night, so the light from the jewels reflected off of the moon, and-" "Ah yes!" Chuan gasped. "It was also said that there was one flaw in Ai's creations." "And what was that?" Viper asked. "Well, it was said that the first time she tested the necklaces was during the full moon," Chuan explained. "And they worked. But every single full moon, when she was wearing them, she automatically transported to the other world, and she couldn't fix them. So every full moon, she had to transport." "Wow," Trinity muttered. We looked down at our necklaces. Were they truly handcrafted by the Japanese Goddess of love, Ai? If so, then how did they get in my nook? These were questions that had yet to be answered. We arrived at the dining hall, where a feast was already set out for us. Cheese, fish, and soup was set out for us, as well as other lunch foods. Chuan giggled. "Surprise!" she said. "We figured that since you are warriors, you should eat like them as well. Especially you, Dragon Warrior. And I'm not saying that because of your size, either. I'm saying it because you are the most powerful. So eat up!" The masters smiled, apparently liking Chuan's company and knowledge. We sat down at the table and took as much food as we could eat, maybe even more. I made sure to get a seat next to Po, or a few spaces away from him (I ended up sitting two chairs away, and the two separating us weren't occupied). Trinity and Nicole sat next to me, and noticed where I sat. "And the fangirl sits next to her idol," Trinity silently announced so only Nicole and I could hear her. "Shut your face," I muttered. "I'm kidding, Kelsi," Trinity said. "But seriously." I stepped on her toes underneath the table. She winced in pain. "I'm on my way to becoming a true warrior, Kelsi, I'll take the pain," she said. "Yeah, right," I muttered, biting into a cheese cube. Mmm. American cheese. That had always been my favorite next to mozzarella. "If there's something called American cheese, is there something called Chinese cheese too?" Nicole asked. "Not that I know of," Po said through bites of soup. "It would be awesome if there was, though." "So, Chuan, what else do you know about Ai?" I asked her. "Well, she had a brother," Chuan explained. "His name was Chi, God of blood. The two hated each other from birth. At one time, Ai was ruler of the animal world. Chi took away her power to the point where she was unable to rule anymore, and he became the new ruler of the animal world. A year later Ai then met Mollie, goddess of energy, who gave Ai her lost energy back, and a little more. Meanwhile, Chi was making the people of the animal world suffer greatly. Ai battled Chi for the position of ruler, and she won. But Ai then decided that she wasn't fit for the position of ruler, and decided to give up her position. Now there was no ruler. Most of the countries already had rulers, but one country that was lost without a ruler was China. So Ai decided to appoint a god or goddess ruler of that country. She chose Byoga, son of Luchiana, goddess of heaven. Byoga then went down to the animal world in the form of a black and white tiger and took over the country, making himself emperor. He was married, had kids and his sons became the new emperors." "Wow," I said. "Ai and Chi hated each other that much?" "Sounds like you and Lance, Kelsi," Nicole smiled. "Who?" Mantis asked. "I have a brother who is one year younger than I am," I explained. "His name is Lance." "Nice name," Tigress said. "Is he a nice kid?" "I'd call him a negative lunatic," I said. "Trust me, you don't want to live with him." They nodded in confusion and we went back to eating. It was horrible to think that Ai and Chi, who were brother and sister, hated each other and battled. It sounded like when Lance and I wrestled each other. I usually end up winning (mostly because Lance doesn't want to hurt me), like Ai won her battle with Chi. Did Chi lose because he didn't want to hurt his sister? I would have to read up on that. After about a half-hour, we heard light footsteps. We turned and saw Master Shifu in the doorway. He was looking at me. "Human, Miss Malian wants to see you," he said. "She wouldn't tell me why, but I suggest that you go." "O-kay…" Why would Haki want to see me? "I'll bring her there," Chuan said, getting up out of her seat. "Master, is Heng going to be released?" I heard Tigress ask as we left the room. "No," Shifu replied. "Haki Malian insists that they keep him in Chor Gom until the case is closed." As we were walking there, we passed the statue of Ai again. I felt weird… like Ai was watching me. I shook it off, telling myself that I was daydreaming again, and went back to following Chuan. When we got to the door, we saw that it was wide open. Haki was smoking again. "Come in, miss," she said in her expressionless voice. I noticed that she sounded a lot like Jessica Rabbit from the movie 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. I walked into the room, glancing at Chuan as I went, and shut the door behind me. Haki was sitting in the chair with her legs crossed again. She got up off of the chair. "Welcome, Kelsi Rider," she said without emotion as usual. My eyes widened. "How do you know me?" I quickly asked. "I know you better than you think I do, Kelsi Rider," Haki said without smiling, but her voice sounded like she was speaking in an evil tone. Haki started walking towards me. "I know all of your secrets, Kelsi," she said. "Okay then, prove it!" I said, a bit louder than I intended to. "What's one of my deepest, darkest secrets that nobody would know but my true friends?" "You have a crush on the Dragon Warrior that has been going strong ever since you were eight years old and you saw the movie 'Kung Fu Panda'," she said without pausing. I became frozen like stone- how did she know all this? "I have had people stalking you ever since you were born," Haki said, now up to me, placing hands on my shoulders and staring into my eyes. I had no choice but to look into hers. The world all of a sudden became colder. "The rhinos that attacked you are mine. They work for me. The rhino that was the tallest and had the sharpest horn, that was my boyfriend, Chicano Marut. My most trusted warrior. The one who knows you the best." I was shocked. I started shivering in fear and in coldness. Who was this woman really?